And now we come near to the edge

Where once the princes sailed...

Ahoy! A ripple in the blue,

Where dragons’ wings have trailed!

With waves below and stars above,

We hang between the deeps—

Charybdis ever hungers here,

And Scylla never sleeps.

Yet as we gaze with hoping eyes

Upon that mirror blank,

Those hoping eyes stare lonesome back,

Their fires slowly banked.

The only heroes to be seen

Are by the starlight made—

’Til morning comes without remorse

To bid the heroes fade.

Now this we ask: where have they gone?

For surely there must be

A ship that sails straight out of myth

Upon so vast a sea!

But we could sail for all our days

And ne’er a siren see—

While once upon a time there were,

No dragons here there be.

At the tip of a burgeoning volcano,

Lives a majestic beast,

Basking in the sweltering heat

Crimson, sunset, gold,

Blending together in the flames

Bursting forth, the thick scent

Of brimstone spreading

Through the murky air

The creature swoops down,

Its marbled wings flaring out

A roar, so mighty it shakes

The verdant trees far beneath,

Tears from the beast’s maw

The fabled dragon descends,

Sapphire scales gleaming

Like an ocean’s waves,

In the piercing sunlight

Of a mid afternoon day

And with that,

The creature starts anew,

Searching for its next feast

Let the terror commence

“I hate humans. Something about them just creeps me out.”

My brother looked at me in utter disbelief. “You have got to be the wimpiest dragon ever. Humans? You can snap them up in 2 large bites. You can crush them under one foot. You can swat them so hard with your tail, they will snap their bones upon impact with the ground.”

“But they are squishy and naked and their limbs are in weird places.” I could feel the smoke curling in my throat uncomfortably at the thought. I shuddered and a small jet of flame peeked from my nostrils. “Humanophobia is a real thing!”

My brother snorted, smoke rising from between his lips. “Some dragons eat them,” he taunted.

I felt ill. “I can’t finish it now,” I pushed my barely nibbled on cow at him.

“Don’t mind if I do,” He snatched up the cow between his jaws. “Thnksh frr llont” He called through a mouthful of cow. Lowering his long body towards the ground, he furled his wings, pointing the tips up towards the sky. In one powerful lunge, he sprung off the ground and whipped open his wings, immediately taking flight.

I decided to glide around the mountain, trying to take my mind off the idea of eating humans. I was already the laughing stock of dragons. Dragons were not given names at birth. They earned names, and those names could change. The name I had earned, or shamefully been given, still cut me to the bone.

I glided down to a clearing in the trees. It looked like a nice place to settle down for a nap. I rested my head on my front feet and curled my tail around the outside of it. I brought one big wing forward to cover my face and drifted off to sleep.

I was awakened by something poking into my wing. Still tired, I peeled my eyes open and lifted my wing from in front of my face. Staring back at me, was a round squishy human with bristles of hair all along the bottom of his face. He was holding a long stick with metal claws, which he had used to poke at my wing. His hairless, scaleless, body was covered with various cloths in place of a natural covering. All other creatures had scales or fur. This alone demonstrated just how repulsive humans were.

Behind my attacker stood three other humans, all with various pointed sticks. Despite the fact that they weren’t even tall enough to tickle my belly, should they walk underneath me, I was terrified.

I quickly rose from the ground and backed up, trying to get as much space between me and them as possible. In my terror, smoke started shooting from my nose.

The humans tiny eyes’ grew round and they all started backing up and shouting in their high-pitched mumbling language. One in the back dropped his stick and turned to run, disappearing into the woods. I spit out a small line of flame, forcing them back further.

I had to get away. Throwing myself into the air, my wings clumsily flailed, trying to gain traction and right my trailing body. Not paying attention, my tail caught on a broken tree, jerking me back and almost pulling me back to the ground. Twisting free, I finally took off and sped away from the clearing as fast as I could.

I heard the roar of dragon laughter behind me, I turned to see that Cowgut and Firespitter had seen my embarrassing escape. Little bursts of flame escaped from their mouths as they guffawed.

They didn’t say it, but I heard my name echoing inside my head as I raced away. I truly was, Chickenlizard.

Selected from nothing but the best,

Freerange dragons and wyverns,

With dill, garlic, and peppercorns,

Lovingly preserved in brine,

Used to brighten up a sandwich,

Or just as a low-carb snack on the go,

And a must in any expecting mother’s pantry.

"So, we'll just have to wait and see." spoke a man in black in a deep, distorted voice. His cape's hood covering his face. "Wait and see what she does."

The thunderous storm loomed over the tallest mountain. The icy tops being struck with bright bolts of magic judgement. Within the assaulted mountain, a group of White Dragons scurried about, trying to find a way out. The largest dragon among them, being over five people tall, carried a small, sleeping g white-haired girl on his back.

"I must protect my queen." he thought "I must get her out of here."

He burst the walls of the mountain open.

"Go, get out of here! We must escape, for the queen's sake!" he screamed. A dozen White Dragons fled through the small hole in the mountain side. He carried his queen out of there. The group of few White Dragons flew to the ground, attempting to flee the storm, but the storm followed. Like flies, dragon after dragon were striked down with no mercy. All but a few remained, but they saw their comrades fall to the ground, burnt to ashes by the lightning, plummeting to the ground, and splattering as they landed. Their once white scales being corrupted with crimson. One of the remaining White Dragons began to freak out.

"We are so dead." she yelled out. "There is no way, even if we were to survive this, they would still find us."

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" he retaliated. "As long as we have our queen, we will be fine."

A lightning bolt struck the queen.

She finally woke up.

"My queen!" he screamed.

"I am fine, dear Oleander." the queen responded. Another lightning bolt descended. The queen waved her hand, and a shield of Ice blocked the bolt.

"My queen, please help us!" one of the dragons begged.

"I will, so do not worry." the queen responded. "Now, what would he say right now..." the queen paused. She snapped her fingers. "Ah yes! He would say 'This storm is really starting to piss me off!'" she raised her hand, the entire storm froze.

Back on the mountain, the man in black sat on the top.

"Damn, it is really cold up here." he spoke. The last bolt of lightning struck him. "...Ow."

At a isolated black castle, stood the king of the Green Dragons.

"So, she escaped, even freezing my storm."

Oleander, the White Dragons, and the queen had finally escaped, arriving at the queen's castle. A giant, shiny white-bricked fortress, impenetrable, like the scales of a White Dragon. The servants of the queen lined up to greet her, but she walked right by them. She strided into her quarters, a giant room, fit for a dragon. A massive bed, the size of a small home, sat in the middle of the room. She walked right by it, grabbing a small sword. It disappeared in her hands.

"It's finally time, I've come to my decision." she spoke. "Oleander! It's time for me to end this!"

The giant dragon came into the room.

"I shall send a messanger out to contact the king of Green." he told her. "I can only hope you are strong enough to defeat him."

"Oleander, it has been a year since I arrived home. The bloody battles I have seen, the deaths of my loved ones, everything caused by the Green Dragons, and others. I haven't shed a single tear in that time, and I will not let my emotions get the best of me, ever." the queen spoke calmly. "I am done being pushed around by these forces. I will make my own path, with my blade." the queen responded. "I am going to end this, today."

Standing atop the bed, unknown to the queen and Oleander was the man in black.

"Huh, I know it's been a year and all, but she really has changed." he spoke. "Damn."

A messanger was sent out to the castle of Green. The servants of Green took the letter and gave it to their king.

"So she plans to face me in a duel, winner wins the war. Pssh, whatever. Even if I lost, I wouldn't stop the war." the king spoke.

"King Caraway, we've made the arangements. She will face you at the battlegrounds, one-on-one, but, we can help if you so wish." one of the servants of Green spoke.

"This shouldn't take long." Caraway bragged before even fighting.

A few hours later, at the battlegrounds. Weapons like spears and swords were stabbed into the ground. Caraway entered, the giant Green Dragon, and in front of him was the queen of White, the little girl. She had been wearing a new outfit, a black hat, winter jacket, scarf, pair of pants and boots.

"You're the queen of White?!" Caraway screamed.

"King of Green, you have tortured me and my people for far too long. Today, I end this!" the queen screamed. Caraway snickered.

"But you're so tiny, like a ripe little grape, perfectly ready to be squashed." Caraway stepped on the queen. She used one arm to lift him back up and throw him. "I see they call you the queen for a reason, but now, that doesn't matter. Electricbolt!" Caraway casted a spell onto the queen. A bolt of lightning hit the queen, she stood unaffected. She walked towards the king.

"Spells do not work on me." she told the king.

"Fireball." Caraway casted. It directly hit the queen, no affect. "Damn, well I'll just cut to the point. Now!" he called. The Green Dragons raised from the ground, into the sky. They began shouting spells, Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Lightning, Ice, any elemental speel they could think of was being thrown at the queen. She blocked all of it with a single Ice dome around her. She could hear every attack on her Icy shield, until one loud thud, the thud of someone landing. Two feet, she could make out two feet on the other side of her shield, two human feet. It was the man in black. He stood atop the Icy dome.

"Now now, this is completely against the rules." he told Caraway.

"I do not care, I plan to win, no matter what!" Caraway responded. Within a second, the man in black had already caught Caraway, the large Green Dragon, in a net. A net made of pure Darkness.

"No cheating in a fair one-on-one, now I have to fix this mess. Oh, and I guess you forfeit by cheating, so you lose the war." the man in black teased. All of the flying Green Dragons were trapped on the ground. The queen emerged from her shield.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Why my little friend, I am quite shocked you don't remember me! Well, then again, I am using a voice changer and an act to keep my indentity secret." the man in black paused. He pulled down his hood, revealing his long, brown hair, and a black mask. He removed the mask to reveal his two brown eyes, and a long scar ascending from his left cheek to his left eye.

"Heya, Ermador." the man in black greeted. "Long time no see."

"It's you... Master..." Ermador, the queen of White, spoke as she began to cry. She began to cry tears of joy.

Fenrar lifted his head. The sky was tinted purple with dusk. Had Erid made it to freedom? Did it matter?

It was better for them all to believe he was dead. If he were to be revealed as alive, things would go horribly wrong, horribly fast. His plan would fail.

Now, the only thing left to do was wait. Wait for the drakons to find a “safe” place. Then, Fenrar would find them. And expose them.

It was all part of the plan.

“Sir, a message has come in from one of your siblings,” the offcier hands Jafar the report. Glancing at it briefly, he gives it back. “Tell the others that I will be in my chambers. Have no one disturb me unless its important. Understood?,” his said coldy. The officer salutes and reports back to his station. Leaving the bridge, Jafar travels down the corridor and enters his chambers. The room was large, due to his dragon size, with the walls covered trinkets from previous campaigns. In the center of the room was a massive table with a glass covering. Pressing a button, the table made a slight hum sound. Then a blue light fills the dark room and with it several images emerge around the table. They were his brothers and sisters from all across the solar system, all fighting for the glory of their father.

“How is everyones progress,” Jafar said to the hologram.

Fafnir spoke first. He was the greediest of all the dragons. Gems covered his leathery, batlike wings and iron hard red scales. Rune stone decorated his large skull and frill. His spike tail, tip with silver heads, were meant to show off his glamor. However, he was not to be triffled with. With rows of dagger-like teeth, skull-spliting shriek and ability to breath fire, his temper was on par with jafars. “The Brachyura proved to be little more than a challenge, but they did have a treasure trove of gems from the different planets they invaded. It was a wonderful site. I simply had to have them,” said Fafnir.

One of the sibling rolled their eyes as they made a sarcastic remark. “As if you need any more Fafnir,” said Futs-Lung. He was a serpintne dragon with red-orange scales, yellow eyes, head of a tiger, paws of a lion and horns like a bull. There was a slight snickering amongst the others. Fafnir was not amused. His bright, angry eyes glared menacingly at the Serpentine. Lung simply raised a paw at him. “Carefull, Fafnir. Father warned you about that explosive temper of yours.” Jafar knew what would happen next. Deciding to diffuse the situation, he turns to his youngest sister Wyvern. Though not the largest of the dragons, she was not to be taken lightly. Her green, armored body and poison tail makes her able to compete with her brothers.

“Dear sister, I trust you have been successful in your conquests,” he noticed that some of her scales were missing from her underbelly, a telltale sign of recent fighting. She gave a slight nod to him. “Correct Jafar, though I am coming to a realization that our fathers reign may not last any longer.” This grabbed the attention of everyone, including Jafar. He lends his ear to her.

“What do you mean by that exactly,” the general was curious about her answer. “Simply this, the stones are becoming extremely rare, if not impossible to find. Eventually, they will cease to exist and fathers longevity along with it. When that happens, we must divide up the empire amongst ourselves. It is only a matter of time.” Many agreed with Wyverns observation. They all knew their fathers rule would not last eternity, even gods must die. However Jafar was not fond of this idea. He cared about his family, but he loved his father. Thus making him the prodigal son. He would never let anything happen to him.

“While that is true, sweet sister, we would never let that happen to him. Not after I return home with the stones from this invasion,” the general began to eye his siblings. He noticed some were giving him dirty looks already. He knew that they were jealous of him, it was not a secret. Back home, all knew the exploits of the great Jafar, much to the irritation of the others. Yet, one decided enough was enough.

“One stockpile will not change anything Jafar. Wyvern is right, we need to think about our future.” Jafar looked ahead of him and saw it was Cyrene, the second eldest brother. He was just as large as Jafar, in both forms, but he was the strongest of them. His massive body was covered in iron scales. Powerful muscles in his wings help him soar across the stars. His elongated neck, sturdy talons, and solid, thick skull help him establish dominance in the face of an enemy, even if its his brother. Jafar tries to calm him.

“Brother, let’s not make a spectacle,” but Cyrene would not have it. “Spare me your concern brother, we all know you revel in it. But one of these days, your going to realize your cant rely on dads fear forever.” The room went silent. The general blinked a few times. This was the first time anyone question his authority.

“Dads fear?”repeated Jafar. Cyrene smirked. “Face it brother, you are who you are because dad allows it. He inflates your ego, fills your head with granger. To him, your a pawn, like the rest of us,” Cyrene continued. “Your men respect you because of dad, the people you enslave fear you because of dad. You have everything because of dad. Without dad, you are nothing.” The atmosphere was getting dangerous cold. Eyes flickered back and forth between Cyrene and Jafar. The general, trying to hold back his anger, attempted one last time to end the argument, however it was easy to spot the anger in his voice.

Very rarely does Jafar show his anger, especially in front of his borthers and sisters. All knew of his dangerous personality, yet never seen it before. His eyes were turning blood red with every second. The horns on the top of his helm began to grow and his voice grew deeper and deeper.

“Brother, I assure you, I do not need fathers help to inspire fear. I do that on my own. I have never lost a battle. Never shown defeat and never shown fear. When people hear my name, their world shakes. Those that do fight back, I bath the stars with their blood, reminding those who dare oppose me,” Jafar growled. Thinking he had won, the general gave a smug grin. “Anything else to say, brother?”

Cyrene was not intimidated by his Jafar. He wanted to lash out. Instead, he spoke in a calm tone. “Only this brother. Something one of my slaves told me,” he paused before continuing. “He said when god bleeds, people will stop believing in him. Dad will eventually die, and with it your propaganda,” Cyrene last statement shattered his brothers patience. “When that happens, you will be the one who is fearful and afraid.”

“Shut Up!,” a massive roar erupts in the room. Its power was heard all through the ship and stop everyone in their tracks. Cyrene had unleashed his brother’s anger to the point where Jafar turned into his true dragon form. His wings outstretched and his body poised for a fight. He reared his long neck up and let out a stream of smoke from his nose. He narls his teeth, exposing his glistening fangs. Swishing his tail, he slams it heavily on the floor, creating a dent in the ship. His fists, clenched so tightly, that his razor-sharp talons buried themselves into his palms.

“Well, on that note, I believe we should adjourn this meeting everyone. I think Jafar needs some alone time,” Cyrene said in a cool tone. Everyone agreed and ended their transmissions, leaving Jafar alone, angry and full of rage. Just then one of his officers enters the room. Sadly, the officer did not see that Jafar was not in a pleasant mood until it was to late. Before getting a chance to speak, Jafar pins the officers head against the wall and crushes it. Blood oozes between his claws as the officers lifeless body hangs motionlessly. Letting go, the dead body slumps to the floor, blood staining the wall. Licking his hand, Jafar glances at the report on the floor. He picks up and reads the status of the invasion. To his surprise, they had arrived a day earlier. Then a message is sent over the intercoms of the ship. “Attention, Attention! We have just entered the planets atmosphere. All soldiers report to your stations for planetary assault. I repeat, we have just entered the planets atmosphere.”

As the intercom ends, Jafar smiles and turns back into his human form. He took his time getting armor on for battle, he did not mistake duing the invasion. As his father told him, “All being make errors, but do not make them mistakes.” As his wings adjust to the armor, he grabs his warspear dubbed Dawnbreaker from the closet. Before leaving his room, he thinks about what his Cyrene said to him. He dismisses and leaves his quarters with a few parting words of his own.

“We will see who is truly afraid dear brother.”

There are two Dragons, one sides with the humans while the other wants to destroy all humans. The Dragon who wants to save the humans is named: Azure, while the Dragon who only wishes for destruction is named: Druk, even though they are Dragons their opinions couldn’t differ any more, but one thing stays the same, their stubbornness to keep their ideals. Both Dragons are at a battlefield where many varieties of weapons are, there are many human skeletons and there are many Dragon bones. One day during one of the Dragon’s battle, they had the intuitive feeling this would be their final battle, but they had no reason for believing it. They can’t tell whose side will win, or even if there will be a victor.

Then Druk spoke to Azure “Azure, for the final time, why do you always insist on defending those weak insects”.

Azure replied with much pride and hope “they are human, that is why, as you say that are weak against us, they are all born weak, but just the same we are also born weak. It’s our duty as fellow weaklings, and besides I can’t just let them die without even fighting for their lives”.

He had said just with pride and arrogance “you idiot Azure, sure we were born weak as of every creature compared to their adult form, but humans are by far the weakest”.

Azure replied with sadness “you just don’t understand Druk, I fear you never will”.

Then Druk took flight into the air, Azure followed that action and took flight also. They fly at each other with their sharp claws slashing at each other, they are dealing equal damage on each other and they fly away to rest.

Druk had screamed confused “I don’t understand you at all! Siding with humans while you’re a Dragon yourself! And one of the strongest Dragons at that”!

Azure replied calmly and gracefully “Druk to me, it doesn’t matter if you’re born a Dragon, elf or even a human. Because it doesn’t mean you will be any different then who you are now”.

Druk replied with “Azure, you’re too kind for your own good, the humans will just betray you if you win this battle”.

To with Azure screamed “No they won’t! I trust them with my life”!

Then Druk used his Dragon breath and fire was coming out, he’s aiming for Azure. Azure did the same using her Dragon breath except she aimed hers for the fire breath, but her Dragon breath is lightning, the two Dragon breaths cancel each other out.

Then the two Dragons fly above the clouds, slashing with all their claws and even hitting each other with their tails. They are going all out regenerating from their injuries and using their Dragon breath. No one can tell where their final battle will lead to, but most hope that Azure will win to protect the humans.

Druk said to her “once I defeat you Azure; I will kill all those humans you love so much”.

Azure replied “I won’t let you! I cannot let you do that”!

Then Azure scratched him with her claw just above his left eye, blood got into his eye from wound, he had to close his eye, but he went hurdling down to the ground. He landed on the ground in much pain, and Azure followed safely to end the battle swiftly and painless.

He angrily said to Azure “you will pay for that Azure”!

She replied “you were the one who threatened me”.

Then Druk breathed fire at Azure burning her right arm, and it’s too painful for her to move it now. At the moment they are almost equal Druk can’t see out of left eye and Azure can’t use her right arm.

Druk proclaimed “I win Azure, you’re useless without that arm”.

Then she replied “let’s see then”.

Then Azure scratched Druk without using her right arm, scratching his left arm and use her lightning roar on his left arm too.

Druk screamed in pain unexpected “Gah”!

She replied “that’s so unexpected coming from you, well it’s unexpected that you would attack humans too so long ago, you used to care for them, but now you hate them to the core”.

He replied back “times change Azure, but time never changes back”.

She had said “true time never changes back, but advances forward”.

Then he roars fire at Azure to which she dodges barely, since she can’t use her dominant arm, she has slowed down quite a bit.

Druk had said “you have slowed down quite a bit, victory is mine”!

Azure had said to him “Druk I know what happened, that you were betrayed by many humans, after you saved them, but it doesn’t mean all humans are like them. I trust them”!

Druk replied screaming with sadness “I can’t just trust them again”!

Azure could feel her words getting through to him.

Azure said “Druk, you may believe all those humans betrayed you, but they didn’t betray you. Those humans died and the humans now are their ancestors “.

Druk asked shocked “Is that really true”?

She replied “yes”.

Then Druk roared fire at Azure one last time and Azure tries to counter with her lightning roar.

Druk answered “Don’t lie to me”!

To which she answers “I have never lied to you and I never will”!

Azure got hit purposely by Druk’s fire roar, making the lightning roar weaker.

Druk sheds a tear and says “why Azure? Why did you take the hit”?

She replied simply “because you regained your trust in humans, you no longer need me”.

He screamed “I still need you Azure! Please don’t leave me”!

Azure sheds tears of sadness and happiness and says “Druk, please protect humankind, promise me! I will never leave your heart”.

Druk replied with screams and tears “I can’t promise you! If I do you will disappear”!

She said to him softly “It was my destiny to disappear Druk, and I am just glad you learned to trust again”.

He screamed “you knew, all this time, it would happen like this! Didn’t you”?!

She replied “yes I did Druk, but I am content. I saved everyone that’s all that matters to me”.

He said his last words to her “Azure, fine I promise, but you better come back one day, I’m sorry good bye”.

Her last words were “Thank You Druk”.

Then strange blue lights engulfed Azure’s body, the body she could no longer move from the exhaustion of the long battle, all her wounds healed in an instant, and not through normal means. The strange blue lights got brighter and engulfed Azure’s body again. Azure’s body started disappearing bit by bit, little by little until her whole body disappeared, but in her place was a human baby with bright blue eyes and hair.

Druk had said shocked and sad “Azure, you came back”.

Even though Azure looks totally different now, Druk knew it was her from the first look. Druk was determined to protect humankind especially the human reincarnation of Azure, he was going to look after her until he could no longer do that.

The roar carries across the land

Boots clank as the crossbows are manned

The wind howls as the beast arrives

The flapping of the wings sounds like thunder

'

Then a BOOM echoed through the halls

The beast had knocked down the northern walls

Bangs and thuds sounded as the men tried to no avail

To shoot it down and end the dragon’s life

Screams of rage and fear filled the kingdom

Not one person had the wisdom

So, thumps, bangs, and other sounds

Made the dragon known to the land

One poor unfortunate soul

Tried to stand up, now the poor man looks like coal

The was a sizzle, then a snap

As the dragon had its first snack

Many others fell before the dragon’s rage

Didn’t matter the race or the age

When it was over, nothing remained

The kingdom was gone with the day

As the dragon lands in a cave

This place is filled with many a knight’s grave

A hollow whistle sounds as the wind blows through

Then, the cracking of bones and a horrible noise begins

The dragon shrinks and contorts

This isn’t a normal beast of sorts

The scream it makes is almost human

Soon, what lies there is a young girl

She sees the blood on her hands

Her skin is caked with the kingdom sands

She begins to weep, shriek, and wail

She’d done it again

Slaughtered dozens of knights and guards

Breaking their armor into shards

This her curse, this is her burden

And there is no escape.